Film & TV

The dreadful tale of the Baudelaire children is about to come to life again, this time on the small screen in Netflix‘s Lemony Snicket’s: A Series of Unfortunate Events in 2017. A first look trailer was released earlier today, giving us our first look at Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf, who is giving off a MAJOR creep factor vibe….

The wildest workplace mixer of the year is about to hit cinemas with the release of Office Christmas Party, featuring an ensemble cast including Jason Bateman, T.J Miller, Kate McKinnon, Jennifer Aniston and Courtney B. Vance, with the release of the official trailer earlier today. From the team behind Blades of Glory and The Switch, Office Christmas Party…

I hate to admit that I do not really know a lot about classical film noir, despite watching many films in the neo-noir genre like Brick, Sin City and of course, Veronica Mars. But what I do know are some of the main tropes of film noir: the femme fatale, the dirty cop and the…

Ahead of its home entertainment release later this month, Larry Heath caught up with Angus MacLane, the co-director of one of the biggest animated films of all time, Finding Dory, to talk about the film’s reception, the advancements in technology since Nemo (on which he served as an animator), playing with 3D and the move…

From 3000 Nights to the latest Suha Arraf film Villa Touma, through to The Curve starring Ashraf Barhom (The Kingdom, Clash of the Titans), the Palestinian Film Festival is back to shine light on Palestinian perspectives from around the world. The theme of this year’s festival? “Visit Palestine”. Festival Director Naser Shakhtour rightly points out that more Australians have connections…

In the early hours of the morning we woke to the official trailer for next year’s highly anticipated Wonder Woman, and oh boy, is it good. Following the Comic-Con trailer released in July, the new trailer features more of the beautiful island paradise of the Amazon’s home of Themyscira, Steve Trevor and Diana being badasses…

Stealing, Cheating, Killing. Who said romance is dead? Not since Bonnie and Clyde have two people been so good at being bad. See Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette in one of Quentin Tarantino’s first masterpieces, True Romance at Event Cinemas George St, Sydney on November 11 at 7pm. Join David “Quinny” Quinn from Supanova Pop…

Brendan O’Carroll (The Security Men, The Fattest Man In Britain) returns as everyone’s favourite foul-mouthed matriarch, Agnes Brown. Faced with wildly eccentric and outlandish situations, Mrs. Brown and her daft set of sons will have you laughing out loud as you struggle to catch each breath in Mrs. Brown’s Boys Crackin’ Christmas Specials & Boxset,…

Today ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) announced the winners for this year’s Screen It competition. Screen It is the largest Australian moving image competition and has allowed school-aged filmmakers, animators and game makers to participate. On Friday November 18, students nationwide will have the opportunity to attend a red carpet awards ceremony at ACMI….

It’s been announced that the upcoming Ocean’s 8 has commenced its production. Directed by Gary Ross with an all-star cast including the likes of Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna and Helena Bonham Carter. The film’s plot will explore eight women planning on executing a heist in New York…

ABC have just made a couple of announcements in regards to their Television content and the hosts that will start to appear in the beginning of next year. In 2017, audiences of Australia can expect appearances from actors including Claudia Karvan, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Tapsell, Xavier Samuel, Ian Thorpe, Anh Do and Rob Collins. In addition,…

Emmy and Golden Globe winners Paul Giamatti (Straight Outta Compton, Sideways) and Damian Lewis (Homeland, Our Kind of Traitor) come together in this complex drama about power politics in the world of New York finance. In this high stakes world of strategy and betrayal, it’s all about winning as two powerful New York figures go…

No surprises that yet another superhero from the Marvel universe will do so well at the box office, with Doctor Strange topping the ladder, earning $6.42 million at the box office in its premiere week. The Benedict Cumberbatch vehicle has performed so well, its earnings make up a little over half of what was made at the box…

As the most expensive series ever produced, Netflix was sure to have the formula to successful television down pat. With the long-awaited arrival of new royal drama The Crown, created by Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon), this venture has certainly  paid off and done so in sophisticated style. The Crown follows the journey a young and newly…

Director Andrea Arnold is probably one of the most distinct British directors working today. Her visual eye, her ability to capture slice-of-life moments in a compellingly cinematic way, and especially her way of extracting fantastic performances out of non-actors. Her films like Fish Tank (2009) and Wuthering Heights (2011) are true examples of such. Her latest…

From Zombies to Hobbits, here are this week’s TV picks… Tuesday, 1st November Love, Nina, BBC First, 8:30pm AEST Upon moving to north London, Nina gets a job taking care of a single mother’s children. Wednesday, 2nd November Tutankhamun, SBS, 8:30pm AEST Howard Carter discovers evidence of an undiscovered tomb of a forgotten pharaoh, but…

“I found a way to deal with the bad by going a little bit overboard with the good”, explained affable new character King Ezekiel (portrayed brilliantly by Khary Payton) as he gave Carol an eye-widening, grounded explanation of false-hope and the necessity of leadership. That quote from this week’s “The Well” accurately captures what The…

Exhibition on Screen is set to capture art exhibitions from galleries around the world and bring them to Australian cinemas, in four brand new films launching from next month. Produced by award-winning director, Phil Grabsky, the upcoming season of Exhibition on Screen follows the success of previous titles Vincent Van Gogh, The Impressionists, Girl With…

Girt by Fear, a six-part web series about “the strange and supernatural terrors lurking in the suburbs of Sydney”, launched online yesterday, just in time for Halloween. The horror-comedy series follows a group of twenty-somethings as they make their way to a Halloween party. Each episode plays on a different horror trope or references classic films, as our protagonists…

Based on the bestselling novel by Australian author M.L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans, directed by Derek Cianfrance, is an Oscar-worthy heartwarming but heartbreaking film. It centres on Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender) who retreats to a tiny town in Australia to forget the horrors of WWI. He gets a job as a lighthouse keeper on…

South Korean Director Jee-woon Kim’s film credits comprise an impressive catalogue of thrilling action films. His balls to the wall 2005 film A Bittersweet Life is still one of my favourite action movies; he’s payed homage to Sergio Leonne with The Good, The Bad, The Weird and in 2013 he teamed with Arnold Schwarzenegger for his…

Most acclaimed for his work in The Sixth Sense and Signs, director M. Night Shyamalan knows a thing or two on how to give people a scare while also twisting people’s minds. Written and directed by Shyamalan himself, it really goes to show his enthusiasm for the psychological-thriller genre and how much chaos a story…

Sherlockians we’re back. At long last Sherlock is heading to our screens for its fourth season, with its first episode coming to Stan on January 2, the same day as The UK and US. Fans have been waiting out for a fourth season of the popular BBC show for three years, but at long last,…

After a long stretch in development, Final Fantasy XV has announced it is going gold. To celebrate its send off to manufacturing and November release date, Square Enix has dropped a CG short film titled Omen, that will leave you breathless. The 4.5-minute short film was created by 3D animation studio DIGIC Pictures (The studio…

Bandai Namco has announced the release of their game Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, that is promised to be the most expansive Dragon Ball game to date. The newest installment in the Dragon Ball universe boasts enhanced graphics and gameplay, an expanded customizable character mode, as well as a new city hub called Conton City, which…

Square Enix and Disney have announced a Kingdom Hearts HD ReMix collection that will make veteran players feel nostalgic, and give new players a chance to play catch-up. Need a refresher, or want to enjoy the Kingdom Hearts adventures for the first time? The HD ReMix compilation will bring six Kingdom Hearts adventures to the Playstation 4 ahead…

Microsoft has unveiled the newest editions to their surface family, Surface Studio, Surface Dial, and Surface Book with Performance Base. The new devices are aimed to cater to the needs of creatives, across professions like design, architecture, and photography. The Iris has the low-down on the specs and prices. Surface Studio The Surface Studio is…

Monster Pictures wants to invite Aussies to the weird and wacky, The Greasy Down Under Tour, showcasing the Sundance film The Greasy Strangler. Directed by Jim Hoskings, The Greasy Strangler, tells the tale of Big Ronnie (Michael St Michaels) who runs a disco walking tour in LA with his son, Big Brayden (Sky Elobar). The arrival…

It was only supposed to be in cinemas for one week, but The Beatles documentary Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years saw fans of the iconic British group come out in their droves. It made the release so popular that some cinemas are still showing it, well over a month after it was…

As we now roll into Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe we are pulled to the beginning of one character’s story. Doctor Strange is Marvel’s step back to delivering an origin story for a new superhero but in some ways this film is a giant leap forward in universe building. It’s hard to fathom…